1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power supply device and an operating method thereof. More particularly, the present invention relates to the topological structure and operating method of an energy efficient switching mode power supply device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the design of a switching mode power source, a system requires high switching efficiency, high power density, high reliability, low production cost and quick dynamic response to a loading. With the worldwide campaign for saving energy, all switching mode power sources are demanded to have low standby power wastage. In this regard, various international organizations including the International Energy Association (IEA), the United States and many European countries have proposed or are planning a set of related standards to limit the power consumed by an electronic product using a switching mode power source in a standby mode.
The standard recommended by IEA and European countries includes a power source with a labeled input rating of 75 W or less, the non-loaded loss should be smaller than 0.75 W after 1 st Jan. 2003. For a power source having a labeled input rating in excess of 75 W, no stated standard has been set yet. However, it is believed that more stringent standard will be established for large power sources in the future.
Currently, some of the methods for reducing standby power consumption include the following.
1. Lowering the switching frequency of a converter in the standby mode—Because a large portion of the energy consumed in the standby mode is the switching of power device, lowering the switching frequency can effectively reduce switching waste and hence reduces power waste in the standby mode. However, if this method is deployed to save energy, audio-noise will appear when the switching frequency is lowered to 20 KHz or below. Thus, some manufacturers developing this type of energy-saving control chips have to deploy frequency jolting and peak current limitation techniques to weaken or reduce noise signals. In addition, the method of reducing the switching frequency is only applicable to a pulse width modulation (PWM) converter.
2. Switches being operated intermittently—Through controlling the voltage differential amplifying signal or directly controlling the output voltage, the converters can operate intermittently in the standby mode. With this setup, the switching frequency per unit time is lowered and hence the switching waste is reduced. However, the ripple wave of the output voltage in the standby mode is considerably large and acoustic frequency noise signal is more likely to appear. Moreover, this method can be applied to a PWM converter and a resonance converter only.
3. Operating using small-power switches—In general, the switching loss and driving loss is related to the parameters of parasitic capacitor in a power device. For example, a small-power switch has a smaller parasitic capacitance. Hence, using a small-power switch in the standby mode can reduce the switching loss and driving loss of a converter.
Although all the aforementioned methods can reduce power loss in the standby mode, they can hardly meet some of the more stringent requirements for reducing power loss in switching mode power sources with a larger output power. For example, Dell, a U.S. Corporation, demands a power loss of 1 W for a 150 W device, which means when the power source outputs 0.5 W to a loading, the input power cannot exceed 1 W. Besides, the power source needs to have high switching efficiency, high power density, high reliability, low production cost and quick dynamic response to a loading.